So I’ve been abnormally busy lately learning to do something a bit new for me. I hope to talk more about it soon.. But the NC state fair wasn’t so long ago!
Several NCABANA members and I were all there demonstrating blacksmithing for record numbers of people. It was an awful lot of fun. I made some neat things, even tried some new projects I hadn’t practiced before and let a crowd watch as I scratched my head and struggled with learning a new item or two. We answered many questions and maybe even inspired a few people young and old to take a more active interest in the craft.. But mostly I made and sold leaves and bottle openers oh, and my favorite change of pace.. leaf bottle openers..
Check out the art inspired by the experience in the Pirate Blacksmith webcomic

I’m in the background probably about to burn myself or a lucky audience

A lot of my writing and how-to stuff has sat on the back burner. With the NC state fair coming up I’ve been busy with projects big and small here are a few of the small heart themed ones.

The horseshoe heart wall hooks are fun to make and look neat to me.It’s great for hanging your keys on or other small items.I’ve got a more complex heart project in the works but these are some of the different hearts I’ve been making.Some are heart-shaped wall hooks, most are heart key chains.And I’ve even been making lanyard or key chain heart self defense tools.A close up of the hook perfect to hang your keys on.This a picture of the welding a key chain. It starts as a simple forge weld.

I had a fun time this weekend attending an event at Yates Mill in Raleigh with Solvarr! There was good food, lots of corn talk and music. If you’ve never been there, the lake is beautiful and the mill is a marvel.

The highlight of my day was getting to help out around the forge. I demonstrated how I make one piece steel roses.

I wish I had a photo of me working, but sadly I forgot to ask. If Ashley was there’ she’d have taken twice as many photographs. Alas I love to swing a hammer not take pictures. She’s been busy lately and has even started he own blog!

With out further adieu Yates Mill:

I love places like this.The first thing I wanted to do was to look at how the water wheel ran.Water was controlled via a steel level. I’d have loved to see this part forged!

The water wheel.

Here is a better shot. You can hardly tell the hurricane nearly destroyed this area in 1996.

Some of the surrounding buildings were neat. I enjoy old wagon wheels.

I know I can’t be the only one fascinated my bits of old machinery!Am I?.. yeah guess you’d have to be there. This stuff was neat to examine.Solvarr had his forge set up, and that was my main reason for going. A couple of other folks helped out and it was nice talking shop and seeing how others work!

I didn’t bring a lot of my stuff, but I brought some stuff to sell, most of the neat stuff isn’t mine =PThese bellows are just really fun to work with.All in all I had a ton of fun, and it was nice to sit back and enjoy some music near the end of the day.

I made this flower candle holder and wall hook not so long ago. Here’s how:I started by forging a leaf out on the end of a piece of flatbarI then forge welded about 21″ of the bar stock over onto itself. I tapered the end and cut a small indent close to halfway to prepare for the next weld.I folded it over once again and forge welded it.After welding was complete I started to form a fishtail with the crosspein.The bar is now about 1/2″x1/2″ and I still needed to punch a hole and trim the fishtail with a chisels (not photoed)The bar was then folded and welded for a third time. This is a bit more time-consuming than jump welding smaller stock to a 1/2″x1/2″ base would be I imagine, but the finished product would look different.I forged the hook and I can start shaping the stem to the flower. When bending the hook I noticed it was about 20 degree off horizontally when mounted flat on the wall. Instead of straightening it out and redoing it I just twisted it to the right angle. This gave an undesirable line that I refined later.The bulk of the work is done.This isn’t an occult blacksmithing ritual. I cut out a small semi-circle for the flower and drew a star to mark the pedals.I used snips and a punch to form the flower. It took a little sanding too.A crosspein on a stump gave the pedals texture.I cut off the excess stem and bent it around to secure the flower. (You can also see a steak turner I made a while before I could finish the hook and candle holder).These little scented candles come with a thin metal pan that I glued into the center of the flower using JB-weld.

I’ll get a better picture of it mounted sometime soon I hope.
I’ve got some more projects to post eventually and some more how-to stuff too.
(update)
–Greg

I forged a cut-off hardie a while back. I took some pictures along the way. I hope you enjoy.

I used an ax wedged into a stump as a cut-off for a long time, but it’s time for an upgrade.I used an ax and sledge to cut the end off the jack hammer bit.I forged the hardie section down some.The jack hammer bit I forged down.This only took a few heats.Before I evened out the edge and sharpened it with a file.After the file work.After I let it normalize I heated the cut-off and then quenched it in oil.I then immediately tempered to a golden straw.I tempered it in the oven again, twice: once after fire tempering, and once the next day.

I’ve been working on creating some extra pages for my blog. I can’t wait to publish them.

In lieu of a lengthy post I’m just sharing some photo’s from a demonstration my wife and I had a chance to help out with at the Joel Lane house in Raleigh, NC. Their fourth of July celebration was a lot of fun, great music, lots of crafts and good food. If you’re ever in the area give them a visit. The museum is a lovely place. The grounds are wonderfully maintained and attractive. A very friendly group of people working together to keep history alive and it’s mostly done by volunteer efforts so if you drop by consider making a donation.

Working the bellows and hearth.

Forging a small leaf

Here you can see the portable bellows and hearth. Great craftsmanship on the bellows.

The atmosphere was great and pleasant on the ears!

The smell of stew was enough alone to draw a hungry crowd cooked up in true mountain man style over an open fire.There was calligraphy with quill and ink.The writing was truly elegant, I wish we had a better photo.

A chandler at work making candles.Some of his goods and tools

Splint weaving was just one of this gentleman’s talents, he’s also a talented blacksmith I was later informed.

Thank you to the Joel Lane House and museum staff/volunteers for making such a great holiday celebration possible, and especially Mr. Campbell for allowing me to help out around the forge.

I wouldn’t have had most of these photo’s if it wasn’t for Ashley, my lovely wife’s help. She was everywhere at once it seemed helping wherever she could and taking many more photos than I have time to share! Thank you sweet heart.

A cordial ‘gent and I got together not so long ago. He’s retired but still works as a hot dog vendor. When he dropped in with a real nice custom cart in tow. It was a simple enough task and a while later I’d finished. He asked for one thing done but mentioned some other things he’d like done. I told him I’d make him something simple and affordable to get the job done, and something with a little more visual appeal.

I went ahead and made something to keep the condiment cooler open to the appropriate height since the fella mentioned it.

I really like making functional stuff. It’s satisfying to make a tool to specifications and attempt to make it visually appealing. But it’s difficult for me to put a price tag on the stuff I make. It’s this odd double standard in my mind on value. I got into this kind of work because of a sort of independence. I’ve always liked making things and it never made sense to me buying something or paying someone to do something I could do myself. If someone needs something I don’t ever want to send them home empty-handed; I’m not the type to take advantage of someone who needs help. But I’m a man who wants to build a business out of a hobby so I have to think about money. With as much of myself that’s intertwined into everything I do it’s almost enough to make me feel a bit like, pardon me, a whore. How do you put a price tag on a piece of yourself? Especially if you’re the sort of person that prefers to make things instead of buy ’em. I understand a majority of the factors to consider but I’m no true business minded man. The next day I gave the ‘gent a price for any two of the three pieces, and another price for all three. The fellow kindly took all three and seemed satisfied.

I’m very found of making things from steel and sometimes I just have to ask.. how did they do that? Our rich human history of creation is an infinite pool of knowledge to wade through for inspiration. The wealth of research available is engrossing. I’ve found myself wondering about digital copies of books. Their scans seem dusty and to smell of musk like walking through a damp, gray tomb of knowledge.. Admittedly it could be my imagination. Or more likely the lack of a good shower wafting about. =)
I digress. I’m very thankful to live in an age where knowledge is abundant.

One of mans oldest tools is the file. A cutting tool like the saw. The two are nearly as ancient as the knife and it’s cousin with a little more leverage, the ax. Rocks, gems, bones and fish spines can be used to remove material for crafting. Modern files and rasp are easily recognized as the descendant’s of these ancient tools. Metal working files were known around the world in some form of another. 14th century Europe had a change in architecture and culture lead to more ironwork being refined cold with file work becoming abundant. By the 17th century file making would have been a full-time endeavor for some. A file cutter would take a shaped piece of annealed steel ground smooth with a stone or file. He’d strap it firmly to a work block or anvil with a softer metal between the file blank and anvil. Then teeth were cut into the file by hand on both sides. As many as 60 to 80 blows per minute could be delivered by an experience cutter. The angle of the chisel was dependent on the aggressiveness of the file desired but it could be between 40-65 degrees. Next the file was carefully hardened and tempered depending on the type of steel and file.

On a personal note. The studio has been organized, an office arranged and we’ve switched Internet service providers. A faster network has finally reached our neck of the woods here Clayton, NC.
Most recently a lot of my time has been spent organizing photos and a bit of modern file work. I do most of my reading, writing and photo work on a faithful ol’ laptop running Ubuntu; occasionally I migrate toward the desktop as I familiarize myself with google sketch-up so the two are not far from one another.

It’s been darn near a hundred in the shade lately. But I’ve been trying to stay hydrated by the forge. I’ve been practicing leaves. And well I have some more stuff for the ugly side of my next installment the good, bad and the ugly. But I liked these from the other day: